Buxton did not heed the warning and paid the penalty for leaving Mason in far too much space to turn the last defender and rifle home the opener with six minutes on the clock.

Despite all Whitby’s early pressure, the Derbyshire side had a chance to hit back when Matt Thornhill was picked out well at the back post, but he headed a good chance straight at the Blues’ teenage stopper Shane Bland.

Thornhill, a former Notts Forest trainee who also played for Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League, proved a threat, cutting in from the left to blast a vicious drive which Bland did well to tip over for a corner.

The visitors began the second half sharply too, with striker Lee Morris only a whisker away with a swerving rasper of a strike.

But freshened up by substitutions, Whitby then came close to doubling their lead.

Mason played a neat one-two with Armstrong and squeezed his shot under veteran keeper Andy Warrington, only for a covering defender to clear off the line.

Armstrong also came close when he did well to control Adam Rundle’s deep cross, and made room to twist and shoot as his effort was deflected out for a corner.

Buxton offered one final scare when Thornhill was picked out in a worrying amount of space on the edge of the box, and pulled the trigger, only for the excellent Mark Robinson to lead by example and block the ball with his face.